Wall-register construction



April 29, 1930. F. 2. AHL 1,756,143

WALL REGI STER CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 6, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR, F RANK Z. AHL.

ATTORNEY umee STATES Patented Apr. '29, 1936 PA n'r reins FRANKZ. AHL, OF SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA WALL-REGISTER CONSTRUCTION Application filed August 6, 1929. Serial No. 383,967.

This invention relates to improvements in wall register construction, and particularly to stackheads for use in connection with hot air-heating systems for. homes, oflices, stores 7 (I? or other situations where hot air is piped from a heating unit to different portions of a building.

An object of this invention is to provide a stackhead which furnishes a rigid surface transverse the wall facing material and against which rigid surface the wall surfacing material maybe directly applied, andto provide a stackhead which will seal the opening in the wall against the passage of dust and soot which the present ty e of stackhead permits to seep out throng the crevice between the stackhead and the wall surfacing material and thereby soil the face surface of the wall. Further objects are to provide, in connection with such stackhead,

means whereby'a register maybe held in po-' sition at the stackhead outlet to provide for use ofdifi'erent sized registers with standardized piping; to provide a stackhead which may be supported directly against the exterior face of the wall supporting members; to provide a stackhead which may be inserted into old building construction, as

well as used in new construction, and to generally improve and simplify the present known type of stackhead.

One form which my invention may take is illustrated by my preferred embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, to which reference is made in connection with this specification, and in which Fig. I 1s a vertically sectioned side elevation showing 4 stackhead constructed'with removable facat another place where the heated air is to,

illustrated by the hot air furnace installation in homes where the conveyor pipe leads from the furnace through the walls of the building, being placed between the wall supports, and usually opening into the various rooms at the floor level, so that the lower edge of the register is flush with the floor, as shown in Fig. I. The construction shown is for this type of installation, where the register is substantially triangular in vertical cross section of side elevation, this bein a standardized form of register readily o tainable and well known to the trade. My invention would be adaptable, however, to wall insert registers set above the floor level.

For protection against possible fire hazard 'ltlis usual, and in most places required by law or building regulation, that a space be provided between the heating flue or stack and the walls of the building, and this air space is a means whereby dirt, dust and soot travel from the lower floors or cellar to the heated rooms, which action is induced by the heat radiated by the stack walls. Unless the stackhead and its connection with the register is sealed tightly this dirt, dust and soot gradually sifts through any crevice between the stack and plaster or register and plaster and soils the finish of the wall surface. Numerous attempts have been made to overcome this ditficulty, but many of them have resulted in very expensive and intricate structures. One of the practical difiiculties of these former devices has been that provision has not been made for rigidlysupporting the outlet edge of the stackhead, although placing of a groove in such outlet edge has been previously resorted to. When applying the plaster around a stackhead constructed without such grooved edges or where the edges are grooved direct ly on the outlet edge of the stackhead the force with which the plaster or other wall surfacing material must be applied bends those outlet edges inwardly so that when it is attempted to fit the register in place it is necessary to chip away the plaster sufliciently to straighten the outlet edge of the stackhead to receive the register, thus leaving the crevice for dirt and dust to sift through. In those instances where a face frame has heretofore been used in connection with the stackhead opening there have been two very decided shortcomings; first, they have attempted to project the sheet metal of the horizontal opening of the stackhead beyond the plane of the exterior of the wall supports and clamp thereon a face frame, the result of such structure being that it can be used only on new construction, and cannot be slid up through the walls of old construction; second, they have endeavored to form a roove mar inally of the face frame on the outer side of the margin of the frame instead of the inner side, resulting in closing the groove by the force" of plastering thereagainst, and in order to reopen the groove to insert the register flanges, or side wings, the plaster abutting g the groove must be chipped away. In an enfdeavor to eliminate this, difficulty, some devices have added an outwardly flaring wing to. the groove, extending backwardly and outwardly and nailed or secured to the wall supportand imbedded in the plaster. ,I have eliminated these difficulties'by not extending the edges of the stackhead opening. beyond the surface of the wall support and by form.-

ing the face frame angularly from the stackhead opening and in relative parallelism with the surface of, the wall support and by forming my marginal groove in the face ofthe frame inwardly. Thus the stress of plastering-is directly" against the outer surfaceof the frame and notagainstan unsupported side: of the groove.

' 1 My invention presupposes ordinary building construction com-prisingvertical supporting'wal ls and supports therefor, such as" con'cre'te, brick or the usual two inch by four inch studs, as shown at 1,. the usual lathing-Q and facing plaster 5. By exterior surface of the: wall. supportwhich is hereafter referred to; Imean that portion which faces into a described as shown at 11. A standard and, well lknow'n'type of register 12- may; be used,

room before the: finish of the'lath and plaster or other wall surfacing materialis' applied, as indicated in the drawing 1 I provide a stack: Ghavingthe usual confining walls 6' ands cap 8*,which stack leads from the heat unit, not. shown, to the" room orjspace. to beheated. Where it is desired that registers bepl aced; atthe floor level the stack is usually constructed widerto the floor level 7 than at the continuation-8 th'ereof'and this wideningof'thestack at: the floor level permits the use ofV-the type of register above described assubstantially triangular cross sectioned side elevation; The stackhead may be supported hipositlon by any suitable means, such nai s 9' through spacers 10'; or by utilizing thefa 18of my invention, the supportingnails-may be driven into studsorwal'l support through the facing frame hereafter having side wings or flanges13 turned inwardly from its face and also having a slatted shutter 14 which may be opened or closed by means of a lever 14? for the purposes, respectively, of opening and closing the register to passage therethrough. The stack 6 carries a lip or flange 15 which extends forward- 1y from, the face of the stack on top of the floor surface and forms a snug fit with an inturned lip of the lower longitudinal edge of the register as shown at 16. The flange 15 may be positively spaced from the floor by a boss or plate 15, though, since a tight fit is desirable at this point this spacing element 15 may be eliminated and the lip 16 merely forcedunder the flange 15-.

The-substance of my invention consists, in;-

com bination with the stack: 6 the register 12, of an upperportion of the stack cnt away so that the forward edges of the,- top and sidev 'walls forming the opening thereinareiu an aligned plane wlt-h the exposed surface of:

the supporting medium for the building walls which is shoe in the; drawings: as

studs 1, thenextending'saidstack walls-at angle as at 17 set forms a. flanged face frame .l8'adaipted tolie flat insubstantia-llythe same plane as the, exposed surface of the supporting-means, said face frame 18 extending substantially to:

points equal tothe respective-.h-orizontal and vertical dimensions: of the register, thenceformin-g said face frame 18 forwardly-for substantially the thickness of lat-h2 phas ter-5- or other finishing coat, such as shown-at- 19, and thereat forming a:v narrow U shaped groove'20,,preferably by turnrngsaid face platefiange; inwardly upon itself substantialtire vertical height-and the horizontal length? of the register and therehy'forms a truss givgr'eat' rigidity to: the forwardly turned flanges 19' so that the great stress o-fplastering against the forwardiy turned flanges 19' will not cause it tobend or sag and theplaster thereagainst may be made a tight permanent junction without t'he'nece'ssityof having: to-

chip it away to readjust the shape of the: stackead or the groove-tent the winged 13 of the register,

lify invention also provides for: the use oft piping of standardized size throughout av building and the adaptatlon of differentslzed registers thereto by use of the face frame: 18"

which maybe made separate from the stack head and 1on1ed thereto; as: at 171 forming a rearwardly extendingrflangtefll tothe: face n-at t is extended pertion net frame 18 snugly and removably held in a frame. This type of structure is particularly adapted to use where installation is made in old construction work and it is necessary to insert the piping through the walls, and merely remove enough plaster to accommodate the face frame 18. It will be noted that in this construction my stackhead in its lat eral transverse dimension does not extend be yond the exterior surface of the wall supporting means 1.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

' 1. A device of the character described comprising a stackhead having an opening leading to a register having flanged sides, the

I edges of the opening of said stackhead adapted to be aligned in a plane with the exterior of a wall supporting means, a face frame angularly extending from said edges of the stackhead opening in relative parallelism with said exteriorvof the wall supporting means, said face frame having a flange extending forwardly and adapted to receive on the inner side thereof the side flanges of a register.

2. A device of the character described comprising a stackhead having an opening leading to a register having flanged sides, the edges of the opening of said stackhead adapted to be aligned in a plane with the exterior of a wall supporting means, a face frame extending at right angles from said edges of the opening of said stackhead in relative parallelism with said exterior of the wall supporting means, said face frame having a flanged groove extending forwardly and adapted to receive telescopically the side flanges of a register.

3. A stackhead for heating systems vusing wall registers, comprising a box-like portion having an inlet adapted for connection with a flue and having an opening into a space to be heated, the edges of said opening being so positioned that they do not extend beyond the plane of the exterior face of the wall supporting means, a face frame angularly ex- Y tending laterally from the edges of said opening in relative parallelism with the exterior face of the wall supporting means, said face frame havin a flanged groove extending forwardly a apted to receive telescopically the side flanges of a register.

4. A stackhead for piping'systems using grille registers having side flanges and wherein said piping is placed into the wall of a structure, comprising a box-like portion having an inlet adapted for connection with a flue and having an opening for exhaust of a draught, the edges of said opening being so positioned that they do not extend beyond the plane of the exterior face of the wall supporting means, a face frame extending angularly from said edges of the opening of said stackhead in relative parallelism with said exterior of the wall supporting means, said face frame having a marginal forwardly extending groove formed by turning the body thereof forwardly and thence inwardly upon itself, and again forwardly, said groove adapted to receive telescopically the side flanges of a register.

5. A stackhead adapted for use with a register having flanged sides, comprising a boxlike structure having an inlet and an outlet opening therein, the marginal edges of the outlet opening of said stackhead mounting a groove, said edges and said groove being so positioned that they do not extend beyond the plane of the exterior face of the wall supporting means, a face frame having an inwardly extending flange telescopically and snugly fitting said groove and a face plate angularly extending laterally from said stackhead opening and in relative parallelism with the exterior face of the wall supporting means, and a second groove marginally of said face plate adapted to telescopically receive the side flanges of a register.

FRANK Z. AHL. 

